Category Archives: Repair the planet

Found: Repair parts for the iPhone 4

iPhone 4 - where form meets function. And duct tape.
iPhone 4 – where form meets function. And duct tape. by jronaldlee, on Flickr

A while back I made a very popular repair tutorial for the iPhone 3, showing how to replace the glass front panel/digitizer. I recently got some questions from someone who had broken the screen on their brand spanking new iPhone 4, so I’m in the process of doing a little research to see if I can help.

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Welcome to Repair 2.0

Ifixit.com has long been a great source of information for people looking to repair their own Apple products. But starting on 21st of april, iFixit expands its scope to all kinds of products, and will also let people add and edit new repair manuals. Along with sites such as instructables.com and Make magazine iFixit is now a force of good to be reckoned with for all of us who see the environmental value of the DIY culture.

Ps: Check out my Repair the planet-category for my meager contributions.

Mini-diy: Homemade beads from electrical cables

I recently found about 40 meters of electrical cables in the trash at work. It’s threaded with 4-7 strands of solid core wire which I needed for a DIY project (to be revealed soon), and I ended up with quite alot of white plastic tubing that I really didn’t want to throw out.

So I simply cut them up into beads, and mixed them into our little art supply box.

If life deals you an excess of electrical cables…
DIY: Homemade beads made from electrical wires
… then upcycle them into lemonade! No, beads! These are telephone wires I believe.

Cut with a sharp knife, as smooth and straight as possible
DIY: Homemade beads made from electrical wires

Just takes a few seconds
DIY: Homemade beads made from electrical wires

Mixed in with storebought plastic beads
DIY: Homemade beads made from electrical wires
My kids seem to never tire of making necklaces. I’m looking forward to seeing them incorporate some free, upcycled, environmentally friendly beads as well.

Reuse, resist!


Straight into the sun

Kayaking into the sun / Cleaning the earth one beach at the time

I took a nice little evening trip in my kayak yesterday (my fourth trip ever, I’m a total newbie). Launched from the nearest beach, just a kilometer from my house, and headed straight out to sea, towards the sun as it was setting, then turning around as it went down, catching the breeze on my back. Perhaps I should have just kept going? How far is it to Island?

I’ve decided to start bringing my trusty garbage picker with me on my trips. On my last outing, I saw lots of little pieces of plastic on the shoreline, just out of reach. It is a bit of a hassle getting in and out of the kayak, so a mechanical grip like the one in the picture above is a must.

Oh, and I might add that I started beach-combing / beach-cleaning last year, after finding the 46000 art project. 46000 being the number of plastic artifacts floating pr 1 mile of ocean! Isn’t that just crazy? What the hell are we doing to our planet?

Happily I didn’t find any floating debris on this trip, not even along the shoreline (I found one lonely red plastic cup).

But the situation on the beach where I launched and landed was different. There was plenty of junk, leftovers from a hot and beautiful day: Ice cream wrappers, empties, potatochip packets, etc. I am actually more than a little dissapointed that my neighbours are such litterbugs, I believed them to be better than this. To me, throwing garbage in nature is simply unthinkable, and I really feel that such behaviour is a sign of the fall of man. If you ever see me litter, then please shoot me!

Upcycled Eco Warriors

Upcycled tyke # 4 : Elton

This is a good project to do with kids. Just start gathering bits and pieces of junk in a box, or clean out a few drawers, and you soon have enough raw material to create your own little eco warrior tribe!

Any material can be used. On the creature above we have a wine cork body, milk bottle cap feet, Elton John glasses made from a piece of balsa from a broken 3d puzzle, some feathers, a thumbtack nose, and eyes made from nuts. Oh, and the mouth was cut from a newspaper.

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